Despicable Me 4

As mentioned in prior reviews, this being the summer film season, it's mostly comprised of big-budget films, sequels, prequels, franchises, etc. Well, for the last 14 years, the animated flick  'Despicable Me' franchise has graced our theaters finally releasing its fourth film appropriately titled "Despicable Me 4"replete with Gru, Lucy, the Minions and all.

Gru (Steve Carell), Lucy (Kristen Wiig), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Madison Polan) welcome a new member to the family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. Gru faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) and his girlfriend Valentina (Sofia Vergara), and soon the family is forced to go under agency protection of Maxime finding out where his family is located. So, they take some of the minions (Pierre Coffin) with them and the rest are housed with the agency for safe keeping. Will Gru et al be able to combat Maxime and be able to put him in prison?

Others to round out the cast are Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, Joey King as Poppy Prescott, Steve Coogan as Silas, Chris Renaud as Principal Ubelschlecht, Stephen Colbert as Perry Prescott, John DiMaggio as Bus Driver, Chloe Fineman as Patsy Prescott and Laraine Newman as Melora. 

This was directed with whimsy, humor and heart by Chris Renaud ("Despicable Me" '10, "The Lorax" '12, "Despicable Me 2" '13, "The Secret Life of Pets" '16, "The Secret Life of Pets 2" '19) plus videos, and co-directed by Patrick Delage (shorts). As with the other installments of this franchise, this sequel was sequenced, paced and staged well. It truly helps to have the same director on each installment so as to keep the same feel as it traverses from film to film. This filmmaker definitely knows what an animated flick is all about. Even though Renaud had the lion's share of the directing experience, Patrick Delage definitively was able to add creative input as well. It was effectively well written by Mike White ("Dead Man on Campus" '98, "Chuck & Buck" 2000, "Orange County" '02, "The Good Girl" '02, "School of Rock" '03, "Nacho Libre" '06, "Year of the Dog"'07, "Mamma Dallas" (TV movie) '16, "Beatriz at Dinner" '17, "The Emoji Movie" '17, "Brad's Status" '17, "Pitch Perfect 3" '17, "The One and Only Ivan" '20, "Migration" '23) plus TV and Ken Daurio ("Bubble Boy" '01, "42K" '01, "The Santa Clause 2" '02, "Horton Hears a Who!" '08, "College Road Trip" '08, "Despicable Me" '10, "Hop" '11, "The Lorax" '12, "Despicable Me 2" '13, "The Secret Life of Pets" '16, "Despicable Me 3" '17, "The Secret Life of Pets 2" '19, "Migration" (additional writing) '23) plus TV and videos. Even with all the experience these writer's hold, this story still had a small amount of time and difficulty in finding their premise, however once they did, this screenplay simply took off and became the story it was attempting to be. Tying the newbie villain in Poppy to the super villain Maxime took some time, but finally once it took root, it fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Otherwise, the writing, character development, and humor was spot on--very entertaining. Illumination Studios' animation and computer graphics were perfect. The minions also, as usual, were a hoot. 

Certainly if you like this franchise, you'll revel with this, however one doesn't have to be a fan of it to enjoy this. This is a great family film with a great message that all will appreciate. If you like that up, close and personal feeling, it's also shown in an IMAX format. Grab the popcorn, because this flick is cute!

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                     Rated: PG                                       94mins.